美国国家公共电台 NPR His $109K Heart Attack Bill Is Now Down To $332 After NPR Told His Story

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AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Drew Calver has had a week. He's the high school teacher who after a heart attack was rushed to St. David's hospital near his home in Austin, Texas. Later he got a bill for more than a hundred thousand dollars.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

This is called balance billing. It's when an insurer and a medical provider - St. David's in this case - can't agree on a bottom-line price for care. The balance gets passed on to the patient.

CHANG: In Drew Calver's case, that six-figure bill came with no warning. He and his wife say they don't even keep a credit card balance ever. With that huge bill, they were facing bankruptcy¹.

SHAPIRO: NPR and Kaiser Health News reported this story on Monday, and since then, there have been developments. Ashley Lopez from member station KUT in Austin has more.

ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE²: Shortly after this story aired, Drew Calver heard back from the hospital that had been sending him those six-figure bills. Calver now qualified³ for its financial assistance discount, which means instead of owing almost $109,000, Calver was getting a bill for...

DREW CALVER: Seven-hundred-eighty-two dollars and 29 cents.

LOPEZ: That's right. The bill went from more than a hundred thousand to less than a thousand overnight. Then on Thursday, the bill shrank some more. St. David's informed Calver that he really only had to pony⁴ up $332 to settle his bill.

CALVER: As soon as I saw that email, I just said, hey, when's the soonest I can pay that off so that it's completely over, you know? So it's a big relief.

LOPEZ: Calver says he's been contacted by people from around the country who are in similar situations. He says he's relieved his situation is settled, but he still can't quite believe it.

CALVER: I'm still a little bit in shock that - because we were going through it for so long, that in just a few days, it's over

LOPEZ: Calver credits the media attention, but he says it shouldn't be like this. Part of the reason he was stuck with this bill is that he unknowingly went to a hospital that was out of his insurance network. It was the closest hospital, though, and he was having a heart attack. Calver says someone in his situation should be able to go to any hospital and be covered. In the meantime, though, he says he is relieved this bill is off his back and he can go back to focusing on his health. For NPR News, I'm Ashley Lopez in Austin.

SHAPIRO: That story is part of Bill of the Month, part of NPR's reporting partnership⁵ with Kaiser Health News.